‘You’ve waited long enough,’ Masami said with a nudge to Sahana’s back. ‘Just give him the poem and get it over with.’
It was morning and Ukiwa was still late. Sahana had plenty of time. Time she was wasting in the limbo between following her heart and chickening out.
She took a deep breath and entered the classroom. Her eyes went straight to Toyomi in his seat. His hands, which held a piece of paper, were shaking. On his desk was a box of cookies.
At first, Sahana had assumed the worst. Did someone write him a love letter and give him cookies? Masami’s hand on her shoulder woke her from her momentary nightmare of assumptions.
After another deep breath, Sahana plodded towards Toyomi. ‘Um, hi. So, uh, I wrote you a poem to say sorry.’
Toyomi handed her his piece of paper. ‘Same here.’ The two laughed before reading their respective love poems. They sighed and put their hand on their heart in perfect synchronicity. ‘Oh, and I baked you something,’ Toyomi added.
‘Same here.’ Another laugh. While Sahana gulped down Toyomi’s cookies straight away, Toyomi stared at her cookies warily. ‘They’re dark chocolate and wasabi flavoured,’ Sahana explained.
Toyomi brought the cookie to his lips. He grinned at the mix of flavours in his mouth. ‘Wow, how did this turn out so great?’
‘They were made with love, of course. I’m so sorry I got mad at you. I shouldn’t have taken out my anger for Kunie out on you. You were just trying to help and I was too focused on myself to notice.’
Toyomi grabbed Sahana’s hands and held them up between their chests. His accompanying trumpets returned. The two kissed and the red string of fate between them got thicker.
So you may be wondering when I put the string on their fingers. The answer is simple: As soon as they met.
I’m quite the fortune teller, am I not?
Sahana turned to Masami. ‘Hey, have you made up with Kunie yet?’
‘I tried, but she didn’t accept it. I probably shouldn’t have tacked on that love confession.’ She stepped back. ‘Um, I have to go help… the student council.. See you later!’
Sahana and Toyomi stared at each other with mutual confusion as Masami ran out of the room. Behind them was the sound of triumphant laughter.
‘I had a feeling,’ a voice said. Toyomi and Sahana turned and saw Gitan wearing the smug face of an eighth-grader who thinks he’s got dark magic powers. ‘My yuri senses took me in the wrong direction, but now they’re back on track. I could see it as soon as I noticed how close their faces were that one day. And now they are in the break-up stage that comes before the climax. What if they don’t kiss and make up and the story just... ends? As a yuri fanboy, I cannot let this happen!’
‘A what?’ Sahana asked. Toyomi winced, knowing exactly what Gitan meant but bracing for the long-winded explanation.
‘I am but a connoisseur of media celebrating pure love between women. And now I must bring my expertise to the 3D realm. I will need your help, Sahana.’ Toyomi put a protective arm in front of Sahana and glared at Gitan, who groaned. ‘And yours too, Toyomi. I guess a BL character such as yourself could be quite useful in matters of the heart, even if it’s second-rate compared to yuri. Now, I have a plan in mind but I am open to suggestions for improvement.’
He turned in his chair towards a girl who was trying her best to ignore him. ‘Fumie! Join us on our mission! You’re friends with Masami, right?’
The look on Fumie’s face was a mixture of suspicion, annoyance and outright fear. ‘I am. What do you want from me?’
‘We are all working together to bring Masami and Kunie together.’
‘I’m going to have to pass.’
‘Why?’
‘Masami needs to get over her and find a man. I won’t get in her way but I will not go out of my way to support an immoral lifestyle.’
Sahana asked, ‘Immoral?’
Fumie pulled a bible out from the compartment in her desk. Before she could open her mouth, Gitan made his case.
‘Oh, please. That only applies to gay men. I haven’t read that whole book, but I was under the impression that it makes no mention of lesbians.’
Fumie gritted her teeth. ‘It’s the principle of the thing.’
‘Principles won’t nurse Masami’s heartbreak. Or help her find true love and happiness, for that matter. What kind of Christian wouldn’t help a friend in need?’
Fumie released a squeak of a sigh that sounded like steam coming out of a kettle. ‘Tell me what you need me to do and I’ll decide if it’s going too far in the direction of supporting homosexuality.’
‘You won’t have to do much, just bring Masami from point A to point B.’
The four discussed Gitan’s plans until Masami came back. During that time, Masami had been sitting on the toilet, trying to slow her breaths as panic took over her body.
Kunie arrived at school just before lunch. When a student asked why, she said, ‘Overslept.’ Dark bags rested under her bloodshot eyes.
When lunchtime came, Sahana went up to Kunie. ‘I think a talk between us is long overdue.’
‘What, so you can talk about yourself? Oh, never mind. You’re not self-centred. Sometimes you think about your boyfriend.’
Sahana inhaled and exhaled as slowly as she could. ‘I was going to talk about you.’ Kunie rolled her eyes but went with Sahana to the empty home ec room. ‘You go here sometimes with Masami, right?’
‘How did you-’
‘I do pay attention to you two, you know. Anyway, I’m sorry your secret got out the way it did. You know how Ukiwa is. I’m actually kind of shocked that she knew before me. Did you tell her?’ Kunie paused, then nodded. ‘Okay, I’m about to go into selfish mode right now, okay? I wish you’d have felt comfortable enough to tell me. We’re supposed to be friends but I wasn’t there for you when you really needed me. That breaks my heart.’
‘Why didn’t you talk to me after everyone found out?’
‘I didn’t know what to say. Plus, I was still kind of mad at you for blowing up in my face for no reason. Well, it seemed like no reason at the time.’
Kunie scoffed a laugh. ‘Yeah, well, I doubt you would have supported me anyway. After all, I’m a ‘wonderful person’ who doesn’t deserve to be called a lesbian, right?’
Sahana’s already large eyes grew even more. ‘Kunie… you know I didn’t mean it like that, right?’ She grabbed Kunie and pulled her into a tight bear hug. ‘You’re still the same person, okay? You’re still my friend. I care about you so much and nothing will change that.’
Kunie cried on Sahana’s shoulder. ‘Thank you,’ she said with a shiver.
‘Let me rephrase what I said before,’ Sahana whispered as she stroked Kunie’s head like a human pets a cat. ‘You’re a wonderful person, so it shouldn’t matter if you’re a lesbian.’
Kunie let go of the hug and wiped her tears away. The two walked back to the classroom, chatting and joking like they used to.
Sahana admitted, ‘By the way, now that we’re talking about our secrets, I’m aware of when I’m making a dirty joke. I’m not that innocent.’
‘Really?’ Kunie asked as she intentionally bumped into her friend. ‘You should be an actor. You had me fooled.’
Sahana grinned and I silently wished there was a friendship equivalent to the red string of fate. Not that these two would need it.
Of course, Kunie apologised to Toyomi, who graciously accepted it.
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